Palestinian shot dead at Jerusalem’s Lions Gate

The Monday shooting at the entrance to Jerusalem’s Old City is the latest incident in a recent wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence.

A worker cleans the scene of a Israeli police shooting on an alleged Palestinian knife attacker at the Lion's Gate of Jerusalem's Old City October 12, 2015. Ammar Awad / Reuters

JERUSALEM // Israeli police shot dead a Palestinian man who was alleged to have attacked an officer with a knife at the entrance to Jerusalem’s Old City.

A Palestinian passerby disputed the police account, saying he had seen police shout at the man, then shoot him four times. “I saw no knife on him,” Hussam Wshah, 66, told Reuters.

The Monday shooting is the latest incident in a recent wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence.

Paramilitary border police officers said the man was acting suspiciously and ordered him to take his hand out of his pocket, Israeli police spokeswoman Luba Samri said. The man was then alleged to attack an officer with a knife, but he was wearing a protective vest and was not injured, she said.

However, Mr Wshah, a Palestinian resident of East Jerusalem, said he witnessed the events from several metres away.

“The young man was walking when they shouted at him. He may not have heard them, and they fired directly at him four times and he fell to the ground,” he said.

The attack took place near the Lions Gate of Jerusalem’s walled Old City on the Arab eastern side of the city, occupied by Israel.

The recent wave of violence has been marked primarily by Palestinian stabbings and shootings carried out by young Palestinians with no affiliation to militant groups. The seemingly random nature of the attacks has complicated efforts to predict or prevent them.

In recent weeks, at least 25 Palestinians, including nine attackers, have been killed by Israeli forces, while five Israelis have been killed in attacks.

* Associated Press and Reuters